Dr. Phil gives 'Baby Izaiah' family $170K

Parents Jacob Wallis and Lucy Verde tend to "Baby Izaiah" at their home in Vista in December 2013. A teen drunk driver hit Izaiah, who was riding in a stroller pushed by his grandfather in 2010. Izaiah is permanently disabled.
Jamie Scott Lyle

Parents Jacob Wallis and Lucy Verde tend to "Baby Izaiah" at their home in Vista in December 2013. A teen drunk driver hit Izaiah, who was riding in a stroller pushed by his grandfather in 2010. Izaiah is permanently disabled.

VISTA, Calif.  The parents of Izaiah Wallis, the 4-year-old Vista boy left paralyzed and brain damaged by a drunken driver in 2010, received a trust fund of more than $170,000 Wednesday during an appearance on the “Dr. Phil” television show.

During the pretaped episode, Jacob Wallis, 24, and Lucy Verde, 25, seem both surprised and speechless when Miki Woodard, president of the Dr. Phil Foundation, presented them with an oversize check in the amount of $173,814. The money was raised by donations from viewers after the couple first appeared in December on “Dr. Phil” McGraw’s afternoon talk show.

“This is such a blessing,” Wallis said. “We want to thank everyone. What keeps us going is that there are so many good people out there.”

The child known to the public as “Baby Izaiah” was just 18 months old when the crash occurred. He was riding in a stroller pushed by his grandfather on an Oceanside sidewalk when they were struck by high school student Noe Hernandez, whose blood-alcohol was nearly three times the legal limit.

Izaiah was left paralyzed from the chest down and requires machines for breathing and nourishment. He also suffered severe brain damage, a collapsed lung and an immune system so weak that he spent a third of 2013 in the hospital for pneumonia and various infections.

In December, McGraw gave the couple $10,000 and a new car, which Verde uses to commute to her job in Carlsbad. Wallis is Izaiah’s full-time caregiver.

The couple has been living from month to month, struggling to cover the cost of medical copays and equipment expenses not covered by insurance. The money they received on Wednesday will give them a cushion for emergencies and enough money to buy a new disabled-access van to transport Izaiah’s wheelchair to doctor appointments.

Most important, it will be used by the family to send Izaiah to therapy sessions at the Project Walk Spinal Cord Injury Recovery center in Carlsbad.